ST. PAUL - For 30 years birders and interested friends have participated in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) during the festive season. This year the count is schedule to begin on Sunday, Dec. 15 and run through to Sunday, Jan. 5. The final day for submitting counts is Wednesday, Jan. 8.
People of all levels of birding skills and of all ages are able to participate. We also encourage birding as a family or group activity. The St. Paul Count has been adapted so participants can participate for as many days as they so choose and doing a feeder watch or field count or a combination of both.
When doing a count over two or more days, it is the largest number observed during one of your observation days rather than a cumulative count. For example: if you count 10 Chickadees on Dec. 15 and 14 at the same location on Dec. 20, only the 14 should be reported. Your count from different locations can be reported as the total observed over the observation period you have chosen.
Driving to work you may observe a solitary owl or hundreds of Snow Buntings as they swale over a field. These can be included in a count.
The following information is what we need to do our official tally which is shared with Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon Society. Species of bird and number observed; location where observed (town or county); and date. For the purposes of awarding a participant prize to a County of St. Paul observer and one for a Town of St. Paul resident, we do you need your name and contact information.
If this report covers more than one observer, please list all who have participated. If you are doing observations over a period of time, please submit only one report.
If you would like to receive a list of species observed over the past 30 years, please contact Paul E Boisvert by email at: [email protected] (note that is 4 not 14) or you can call in evenings to 780-645-3409. These contacts will be used for reporting your count or should you have any other question.
